Riley

“Candle Light”

By Riley

Life, a story, so long but so short.

Married-

Son-

Daughter-

Son-

Widowed-

Died 1770-

Theophilus Niger, one who survived-

One who lived-

One whose story was lost in the dark-

That candle has now been lit and will never be blown out.

Riley’s Poet’s statement:

In my poem, my goal was to show how short Theophilus’s story is. I did that by listing the events of his life that we have uncovered. Like the birth of his children, marriage, and death of him and his wife. I wanted to tell his story and light the candle about his life. I think it was important to list all of the documented moments in his life to show how much of his life that was lost. We don’t know anything about his life before he was enslaved, and we probably will never know. But it’s the act of uncovering the parts of the story that we can and sharing his story that makes this important.